This invention relates to X-ray detectors and more particularly to a system for measuring the energy fluence of an X-ray field whose energy is greater than 0.10 MeV but less that 100 MeV.
X-ray detectors have been used heretofore to measure the dose an X-ray field produces in some particular measuring device. The measured dose is assumed to be the same as the dose the field produced in an object under irradiation. These prior-art measurements are rather accurate for biological objects or dosimeters specifically designed to simulate biological objects. However, in most other instances, and even in the above case, if accuracy is required, one must calculate the energy fluence of the field by use of an elaborate numerical integration which requires a knowledge of the incident spectrum. The incident spectrum is not usually known very accurately. Once the energy fluence is known, one can then calculate the radiation does at some point in the object which was irradiated. Energy fluence is the quotent of the sum of energies (exclusive of rest mass) of all of the particles entering a sphere of a particular cross-sectional area over the cross-sectional area.